Yikes!!

I was just thinking about everything that I have coming up deadline wise. I might be making a mountain out of this molehill, but given that I cannot dedicate every waking moment to the kiln and clay gods, I think I might be biting off more than I can stuff into my mouth and chew.

First – Must get all the dinnerware fired for the “Turning the Tables” show. Think this is now complete, as I just fired it last night...Now I must fire the lustre. I need to have it completed this weekend coming up (Thank goodness it is a long weekend) so that I can take some good pics and get my submission in for the show/sale. The deadline for this is looming...September 13^th me thinks. I should probably check, just in case I have it wrong, wouldn’t it suck if I missed the deadline by a day.

Second – I really need to get the tea set that was ordered done. The teapot has been glaze fired, but the cups, saucers, creamer and sugar are all in various stages of incompleteness (either just thrown, green and untrimmed, or trimmed and handled but not dry yet.) I am crossing my fingers for the teapot, I am worried about the spout, as lately I have had nothing but glaze crawls just inside my spout openings (glaze too thick?, spout too thin?) This set needs to be completed by the middle of September, as I need to get it shipped out in time for a Sept 25^th wedding.

Third – I have 3, count ‘em Three, winter sales this year, and not a whole lot of anything really nice. The first show is November 7^th, and I don’t know what to expect. It is at Mount Royal Station (??) and is being put on by the CCAA.

The next 2 shows are on the same date, November 13^th. The Fairview Studios Pottery sale is in the morning from 9-12, and then the Turning the Tables show (if I get selected via the jury) will be opening that day as well. I have most of everything needed for this, except for most of the dinner plates and cups. I have enough for the photo shoot, but not enough for sale if I actually get selected.

The studio sale is a bit different, I will probably put most of my “seconds” in, and by second, I mean the stuff I don’t especially like that much, not stuff with defects. The defects go in the circular file.

Fourthly – I need to get cracking on my cone 10 stuff so that I can have a nice selection to take down to Medicine Hat for the salt firing on November 18, just a few short days after the Studio Sale. I think that by the time Christmas hits, I will be exhausted, and looking forward to a little break.

On top of all this, I will probably be teaching for 2 weeks straight sometime in the next month, as Dave is driving down to Kansas to take care of some family stuff (He just hasn’t said when). I will surely be dragging my butt by the time he gets back.

Sometimes I just want to look at pretty pictures

I have been slowly developing a reading list of blogs. I enjoy starting my day by logging onto Google Reader and perusing the daily posts. Some bloggers put something out into the bloggosphere at least once a day, if not more, and others are more measured if not sporadic in their blogging, only disseminating their thoughts once a week or longer in between posts. Lately, there seems to be a recurring theme, sparked by a post discussing the severe lack of deep thinking and pith in the pottery blog world. This author felt (forgive me if I miss interpret this) that there were way too many people out there just posting about what they ate for breakfast, saw in a magazine, how many birds were on their window sill while throwing etc...and not enough critical writing going on.

What do I think about this? Well, sometimes I just want to look at pretty pictures, imagine what it would be like to live in another city, town or country and be exposed to totally different pottery cultures, or just get a little glimpse into the lives of other potters. I am sure that my blog weighs in a little on the light side of things, but I do try to keep my posts somewhat related to my life in the studio. I always feel a bit hesitant when putting my thoughts out there. I don't know if anyone actually reads this or cares about what I have to say, but I as I am exposed to the pottery community face to face on a weekly basis (teaching students and working at the only local pottery supply store in town) I don't want to tick anyone off and jeopardize my and my employers reputation. So, if you want deep thoughts, I might not be the blog for u, but if u want impromptu posts that may include the odd pretty picture, then u have come to the right spot.

More on Medalta Salt Firing

Things are looking good for a salt firing in November! The cost is $185 per firing and if you have not used Medalta's kilns before, they require that for your first firing, you pay the tech fee so that you have some help learning to fire their kilns (understandable). That fee is $300. So, $485 for one firing, split that in about 4, and you are looking at $121 each. If we squeezed 2 firings in, it would cost $670 ($168 each). I wonder if we could do it. Let’s see...get there really early on Thursday, load and begin firing. Unload Saturday, load again Saturday, unload Monday....hmmmm I wonder, it would be totally worth it to do 2 firings.....I need to get throwing. My brain is all a jumble with ideas now.....

Speaking of firing, I am teaching tonight and will be doing a horse hair firing for those students that want to give it a go. I will also be doing a throwing and a glazing demo as well. I might demo an upside down bowl. There are people in class that are struggling with throwing large bowls, and as this is a recreational class for them, frustration is not good. So, if they can get something large with little or no struggle, they will be happy. I think I will give them 2 options. Throw the bowl upside down and leave the bottom open, and then add a slab bottom later, OR, completely close the bottom in and then continue to shape that into a foot (I will take a picture and post later)

I checked the latest AKAR show out called “The Northerners”. Can I say I LOOOOVVVVE  it. Cathi Jefferson is in it, and most of her stuff is sold already. I took a workshop with Cathi a couple of years ago, and I cannot express how much I learned in that short space of time. I absolutely love her work. So simple but they demand your attention.

Very excited!!!

I was teaching this evening and a student came in that had participated in the salt and soda workshop with Cathi Jefferson In Medicine Hat and she asked me if I would be interested in going Down to Medicine Hat in November and renting the salt kiln and firing it up one weekend. I believe she said it would cost about 130 bucks and if we got 4 or 5 people together to share the cost, it would be totally affordable. So right now, I am totally in. I just need to get the time off...if it works out, we would go down Thursday, load and fire it Friday and unload Sunday. I can't wait :)

Sent from my super cool iPhone

Throwing bowls off the hump

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qui1kH1xeY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my super cool iPhone

Throwing tall mugs

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrJWZEzLoug&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my super cool iPhone

Can I make it in time?

I have an order for a tea set (tea pot, creamer, sugar, 4 cups and saucers, serving tray). It is for a wedding present and needs to be delivered to Vancouver Island before September 25^th. I only just got the notice on Sunday. The people that have ordered it are friends of my parents, and I have known them since I was knee high to a grasshopper. They ordered a tea service last year for a wedding as well, and I was able to get my parents to drive it out to them, as the wedding was in Canmore, and they were able to have a visit. This time, the wedding is on the island, and this will be a test of my pottery packing skills. I will just Fed Ex it I think. Might be expensive, but I will work it into the cost. I will probably do it in the same colours that I did the last one. They were very rich. A nice matt dark toasty brown on the outsides of everything, and the liner glaze will be a translucent celadon green. It reminds me of chocolate mint wafers....mmmmm.

I will be working on it tonight, and hopefully I can have it bisqued and glazed in time to ship to arrive with time to spare.

On a slightly different note, I have signed myself up for a new show this fall. The Calgary Clay Arts Association is putting on a sale at Mount Royal Station. It will take place on the 6^th and 7^th of November. I will do the Sunday, as I work at Ceramics Canada on Saturday, and you know what they say, a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. I will of course be participating in the Fairview Studios Sale on November 13^th, as this sale is definitely a must. I net most of my yearly pottery revenue from this one sale, and it is only 3 hours long, that is amazing. So, 2 winter sales is a bit scary for me, I never know if I have enough “good” stuff for one sale, let alone 2. I know that this would be no sweat for most professional potters, but truth be told, I am lazy, and oh yeah, I also work 2 other jobs (not including teaching at the studio once a week). But I work slowly when I am in the studio, I usually only make a few things at a time, and I take lots of breaks in between each piece. I walk around, look at what others are doing, read a book etc...I can make myself throw lots, but I know when I am getting tired, I get sloppy, things don’t work out properly or not at all. It’s funny, because I like throwing. On the other hand, I really hate glazing, but I can make myself work long stretches without a break. Maybe it is just the desire to be done with it and not drag the process out forever.

I’ll see if I can find a picture of that tea set I did last year. I fear it may be on my computer at home that is now more paper weight than computer :(

In case you are interested, I posted a couple of videos on Youtube this past weekend. I will put them on the blog in a minute...

raku

I was teaching last night (as usual), but I was also doing a raku firing at the same time. We started at 6:30 or so, and finished at about 9:15 pm. The 06 cone did not bend, but the glazes were definitely mature. I only had 2 small pieces (a tea bowl, and a small bottle vase), and they turned out “OK”. The white crackle glaze did not crackle as much as I would have liked, and the glaze on the inside of the tea bowl feels a bit thin, so I will know for next time to apply a thicker coat. My terra sig blackened quite nicely on the outside of the tea bowl, but the little bottle vase didn’t get enough reduction, but it still looks quite nice. I will take some pics on Friday when I am doing another raku firing. It just got too dark out for really nice pictures (I think summer is over, it is getting darker earlier and earlier now)

catching up

I ache all over. I went for a therapeutic massage yesterday, and man did she ever do a number on my back. I was in a car accident in 2002, and my back has never been the same (pelvis is torqued to the right and is a bit higher on the right than on the left, so my back is constantly in some kind of pain). When I went to bed last night I could feel every spot she had spent extra time on releasing knots. Oh well, I have 2 more sessions booked for this month, so I should be in good working order by September.

As for pottery, I finally got my palladium lustre. Now I just need to bisque fire what I have, glaze it, and then fire the lustre.

We are doing raku this week at the pottery, and I have a few things that I would like to get done. I am a white crackle kinda girl, and I especially like it against a nicely blackened terra sig background. I fooled around with naked raku last year, but way too much work for very little pay off. I could never seem to get the slip/glaze layer to release nicely from the pot. It should peel off like the shell of a hardboiled egg. I ended up bleeding from the knuckles as I scrubbed and scraped the sandy slip and glaze off the pots. I did get the nice naked raku look, but I found that with the extra scrubbing and careful scraping, my terra sig layer would start to peel off as well. So white crackle it is, for me at least, until some kind soul gives me the fool proof naked raku for dummies recipe.

This is a vase that was thrown in 2 parts, it was never very tall to begin with, but was thrown to demonstrate sectional throwing in my Tuesday night class.

I am guilty of pottery plagiarism. This is my version of a bird house that I saw Hsin-Chuen Lin throw on You Tube. I have since altered this one a bit and have done some bas relief shingles on the roof using wax resist. In the background you can see some of my pots that are ready for some raku firing. I have just used Plainsman M370 porcelaineous stoneware and have covered in Terra Sigilatta.

This is just a very large bowl. I have not measured, but I think it is about 17 or 18 inches in diameter, and about 10 inches tall?

Hmmm, I can't change the orientation of my pictures when I send them from my phone...just tilt your head a little to the right....there you go, it's a casserole done in my red tree design.

I apologise for the poor picture quality, the lighting in the studio is less than stellar.